Haringey Borough Council leader Claire Kober accused of not acting against tax-dodging councillors

The leader of Haringey Borough Council has been accused of failing to take action against two councillors who were summonsed for not paying their council tax.

Councillor Neil Williams called on Cllr Claire Kober to indentify the two accused councillors and say what action she is taking against them at a full council meeting on Monday, March 24.

He asked: “Can she [Cllr Kober] confirm that two sitting Labour councillors received court summons for non-payment of council tax between April 2011 and March 2012, and say what action she has taken to ensure Labour councillors pay council tax?”

The leader of the Labour-run council said she is not informed when councillors are behind on their council tax, but suggested requiring all councillors to set up direct debits at the start of the new administration.

Cllr Williams responded: "That’s not a very informative answer and the balance of probabilities is that the two reprobate councillors are sitting in the room at the moment.

“So I’m amazed that she would run in the next election on the same ticket as people who have not been paying their council tax and not even try to find out who they are so that she can deal with the issue.

“So that is not good enough and local voters are entitled to know if people are being submitted for re-election who have not been paying their council tax – so do something about it.”

Cllr Kober did not directly respond to the comments but during her answer to the next question from Cllr Toni Mallett she said: “It’s nice to be confronted with an actual question rather than the negativity and bile that comes out of Councillor Williams.

“I can only reiterate that it is really important that councillors pay their council tax.

“However if I am not notified of people not paying their council tax then I can’t be held responsible for it.”

A council spokesman said: “Two councillors received summonses for late payment of council tax during 2011/12.

"Following the summonses, the outstanding amounts were paid in full and all members were therefore entitled to vote at the 2012 full council budget meeting.

"It would not be appropriate under the relevant data protection legislation for the council to identify the individuals concerned.”